Holidaymakers escape Wilma's fury

Heavy rain brought slips to the Coromandel. Photo / Christine Cornege.

More than 500 people stranded in Coromandel settlements were able to escape yesterday after the smaller slips were cleared from roads in the area.

Tropical cyclone Wilma dumped two months' of rain in 12 hours in Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and Waikato, bringing widespread flooding, slips and power cuts.

One large slip and several smaller ones trapped residents and holidaymakers in the Coromandel settlements of Tapu and Temata, about 20km northwest of Thames, on Saturday morning.

Contractors broke through the smaller slips yesterday afternoon, said a Thames Coromandel District Council official.

However, motorists needed to take care because roads were still narrow in places and people with larger vehicles, such as campervans, should delay non-urgent travel.

A massive slip of more than 3000 cubic metres was still blocking State Highway 25 at Ruamahanga Bay and was on the move, the council said.

The slip could take up to two days to clear and had forced the evacuation of a house in its path, said Thames-Coromandel Civil Defence co-ordinator Ron White.

Tapu hotel and camping ground owner Ron Efford said the campground was full and hundreds of disgruntled campers had been forced to stay put since yesterday, as had the area's 400 or so residents.

In Northland, farms in the low-lying Hikurangi swamp area remain submerged after floodwaters breached stopbanks along the Mangakahia River, according to Northland Regional Council operations director Tony Phipps.

The water could remain for weeks until the river levels receded and the area could be pumped, he said.

Several houses were flooded in the Northland town of Moerewa on Saturday night as cars driving through surface flooding caused it to spill into properties, a Fire Service spokesman said.

Plunket St was closed and Civil Defence was pumping water from some basements, he said.

SH11 is also closed between Opua and Paihia because of flooding.

In the Waikato, river levels were expected to recede today or tomorrow after the highest flows there since 1998, said Environment Waikato emergency management officer Adam Munro.

Only one lane remains open on Kuaotunu Wharekaho Rd (SH25) because of a slip.

In the Auckland region a number of areas were still flooded, said Civil Defence Auckland group controller Clive Manley.

Several roads on Waiheke Island were closed by slips and the wet earth remained unstable which meant there was a chance of further slips despite the rain stopping, he said.

People have been warned not to swim in the region's rivers and harbours because of a risk of sewage contamination.

And people are advised to stay out of the water in the inner Tauranga Harbour, including Pilot Bay, until at least tomorrow.

All tracks on and around Mt Maunganui remain closed by slips.

Competitors in the Northern Regional Surf Championship at Mt Maunganui braved 3m swells as the storm hit on Saturday, but the swell had reduced to half a metre by yesterday. People are advised not to swim in Whangamata harbour after heavy rain caused a sewerage treatment station at Awarua Pt to malfunction.

Weatherwatch.co.nz head analyst Philip Duncan said the damage caused by Wilma was remarkable given the cyclone's trajectory.

"These storms when they come in they can cause widespread devastation, and the fact that it's only just nicked us and caused so much damage gives you an idea as to how strong they actually are."

Those still mopping up could be reassured that similar storms from the tropics would not reach New Zealand in the near future, Mr Duncan said.

An increase in air pressure across the upper North Island and north of New Zealand would act as a "brick wall" and block tropical storms from reaching our shores for at least 10 days, he said.

"It's going to stop those lows that have been coming down the last two or three weeks.

"So it's going to change from being hot and humid and wet, to drier and windier and hotter."

That would result in a period of fairly settled weather in Auckland, he said, with a few windy days when westerlies over the South Island reached the North.

- Additional reporting NZPA